Monday, July 14, 2008

A Trend?

So there haven't been a ton of free ebooks for teens, but now in the last few months there have been two that have come to my (admittedly, sparse) attention. First it was Doctorow's Little Brother, which continues to be free, and now, the well-reviewed (and well-buzzed) Savvy by Ingrid Law. I first heard about Savvy from a librarian friend over dinner who was shocked at my ignorance (they set the bar high for me, I'm telling you.) The difference between this one and Doctorow's is that Savvy is only available free online until July 20th.

I still haven't read it, but I'll probably take a gander at the first 20-odd pages. If it hooks me, I'll probably get the book from the library, as I'm not one who likes to curl up in bed with my computer for the nightly bedtime read. Are you? What do you think about ebooks in general, and free ones at that? Who's got the better deal? Doctorow's all free all the time, or Law's all free for a short period? Personally, I'm more of a some free all of the time. I think, marketing-wise, give 'em enough to hook em. But maybe that doesn't have a great track record. Let me know what you think.

I like all free, all the time. I think Doctorow's a genius for this, and he has a great discussion of why he does it over on his web site, www.craphound.com. Even though the book is free online, I've bought my own copy. All of his books are free online--yet I've bought them all. I'm trying to get Penguin to release the eBook of Something Rotten for free so people can get hooked on the series, but getting any big company to give anything away for free is trying to teach an old dog new tricks . . .

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About Me

A teen librarian in the Seattle area, who chairs the Cybils YA Lit category, serves on the YALSA Quick Picks 2013 committee, and enjoys cheddar and tea. Among other things. This a blog of only some of my, and only my, literary thoughts.